Bedroom design

The job the room is hired for

A bedroom is hired for sleep, and its design quality is measurable in how fast the room winds you down. The bed gets the commanding position — headboard on a solid wall, door visible, window light not hitting the pillow — and everything added after that is audited against the one job: a chair that collects clothes is storage failing, a desk facing the bed is tomorrow staring at tonight, a screen is a decision about what the room is for.

Clearances that decide the layout

• Walk both sides of a shared bed: 60cm minimum per side, 75cm to open a drawer while standing there.
• The bed end wants 90cm to the wall or wardrobe — less, and dressing happens in the hall.
• Bedside surfaces land level with the mattress top, ±5cm.
• Wardrobe doors and drawers need their full arc plus a standing human: 110cm in front of a hinged run.

Lighting it

Three circuits: a warm general layer you can dim to candle-level, bedside lights operable without sitting up, and no cool-white anywhere. If one light must be bright for cleaning and packing, put it on its own switch you never touch after 8pm.

The mistakes this room attracts

• The bed under the window because the walls "didn’t work" — light on the pillow, a cold draft at the head, and curtains that can never be generous.
• Mirrored wardrobe doors facing the bed, doubling every 3am shadow.
• A laundry chair, which is a floor pile with legs.
• Overhead light as the only light — bedtime under an interrogation lamp.

When it is small

In a small bedroom the bed goes against a wall without apology (couples: the lighter sleeper outside), storage goes under the mattress and over the door, and the palette drops to one colour family. A small bedroom that sleeps well is a success; one that photographs well and sleeps badly is not.